Let's Go! Misato High School
by echo-WLH
Summary: Tenten the 'perfect girl', Sakura the emo, Hinata the film obsessed zombie, and Ino the... chef? Welcome to Misato High School, a high school for the richer kids in society. Dorms, field trips, mean popular wannabes and guys. Ultra cliche, NxT SxS NxH IxS
1. It all begins

**WLH:** **Hello all! This story is a super cliche, for both my writing and your reading pleasure. It sucks overall, and is mostly my stress reliever (lol!). I love Tenten, so in this story Tenten is perfect and adorable and good at everything and gets all the guys. Well, in the beginning at least. Ohohoho....**

**This story also deals with friendship and how the bond can carry through even though there are storms on the horizon. (At least, I plan it to later)**

**CCS connections because I wanted them. Excessive showiness and perfectness of plot because I wanted it. Let's see, any more warnings? The pairings are ALL CANON, all my favorites and predilictions, personally. And embedded within this story are several obvious and annoying anime/high school stereotypes. Also, the bad girls are complete idiots and the good girls always win because that is just awesome. **

**Haha for now, it sucks and is just a plain lot of fun, but expect good plot and character development later on... if I feel like it. xD Love you all!!**

**This chapter is more of an informative than anything, and if you're too lazy to read it all (super long) then I advise you check back to this one from time to time in the duration of the story or in later chapters. Some of this chapter, however, is a story, and no, that is not HinataxShikamaru you see in there. As much as I love crack pairings, that would just NOT work. **

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The four girls walked through the halls of their new school, whispering excitedly. Let me take a moment to introduce them to all of you. Better yet, let me show you a bit of their high school profiles.

(In alphabetical order)

Haruno Sakura

Age: 15

Grade: 10

Student status: Transfer from Misako All Girl's High School

Student capability: Steady grades ranging from A+ to B. One 3.8 GBA in eighth grade, first semester. B in P.E.

Student rank: At Misako, relatively popular, infamous in some ways, known for sporting the best styles and a passionate love for History.

Personality Description: Sakura is somewhat (okay, a huge) split personality. Her nicer side, which people refer to as the "good one" or simply "good", is identifiable with a rather loud, girly parrot which talks way too much. She is good at matching colors (particularly in fashion) and has a skill when it comes to learning different languages. Her darker side, which people refer to as "it", only surfaces when something extremely disturbing or emotionally moving (in a bad way) is revealed to her. It also comes to life when she feels euphoric or energetic or spirited. When "it" attacks, none are known to be left in perfectly the same state they were before "it" attacked. Terrible, terrible singer, and terrible, terrible cook. Great strategizer and is extremely soft hearted past her slightly hardened shell. Fights with Ino a lot, gets along well with Tenten. Likes romance novels.

Liked subjects: Math, History, Fundamentals of Art.

Disliked subjects: Music, Home EC, PE, English.

Moving on.

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Hyuuga Hinata

Age: 15

Grade: 10

Student status: Transfer from Misako All Girl's High School

Student capability: In the records, a good student. Occasional B ranged grades, but by the final semester, grades are raised. Straight 4.0 GPA since the beginning of seventh grade.

Student rank: At Misako, she was more noted for her rank in society and her family than for her looks or personality or talents. She kept well within the popular crowd, however, as a result of her many bold, attractive friends.

Personality Description: Shy. She likes to video tape and take pictures often, which compliments her shyness as she doesn't like being in too many pictures. Has a passion for making videos, and has signed up for video making and photography for a few of her after school activities. She tends to be quite a groupie, always yearning to spend time with her friends, probably to escape the tension in her household. Extremely humble when it comes to herself, but decidedly determined to do better. Loves shopping and is a wonderful cook. Looks up to Tenten, particularly because her childhood friend (and crush) from when she was in third grade had seen Tenten when she had come over to collect the teddy bear she had left behind, and after she left, he announced, "That was the loveliest girl I have ever seen in my life!"

Liked subjects: Math, Music, Home EC

Disliked subjects: Science (dissecting), English, PE

Now for…

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Tenten

Age: 14

Grade: 10

Student status: Student is a transfer from Misako All Girl's High School

Student capability: Tenten has showed outstanding grades in all of her classes, never falling below an A-, except for a narrow B+ that she managed to raise to an A- in History. Straight 4.0

Student rank: Highly popular, but in that quiet and discreet way. Well known for a cheery, optimistic personality and a dazzlingly adorable smile. That, paired with her good looks, has made her an unofficial "queen, or princess" of Misako High. Known for her deft fingers and pro marksmanship.

Personality Description: Overall very cheerful and bright, stubborn when it comes to her loved ones' well being. Animated, quirky, sprited, immature in a good sense. Seen as the baby of both her family and in her group of friends because of her childish personality and innocence. Loves laughing. Not at all shy, an okay cook, fabulous singer, great dancer, talent with music and the arts. Never really liked straight out problem solving and logic, but leans more towards philosophy and literature. Loves to sing and act. She is sporty, a fast runner, with an incredible amount of stamina, plays tennis, swims, attends gymnastics outside of school, soccer, and a bit of lacrosse. Will do anything to protect, but has very low self esteem, and bears many emotional scars from her past and the fact that she always thinks she isn't enough. She likes writing and drawing anime and manga, as well as collecting cute things (loves collecting teddy bears). In short, if Tenten is bossy, depressed, or extremely self confident, she is an imposter, and you may immediately take her out. Had a reputation and nickname "the perfect girl" starting fourth grade.

Liked subjects: English, Music, PE, Science

Disliked subjects: HISTORY, HISTORY, HISTORY, and… history.

Note: Last name withheld for unknown reasons.

Finally…

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Yamanaka Ino

Age: 15

Grade: 10

Student status: Transfer from Misako All Girl's High School

Student capability: Average, ranging from low A's to high C's. Bright, but as commented by her teachers before, short attention span. GPA totals up to a 3.2

Student rank: Unofficial "queen" of Misako High, outspoken, courageous, gorgeous, and she knows it. She is confident, sometimes overly confident, and her popularity is only rivaled by Tenten (very quietly and unbeknownst to her). Known for loving gossip and having been asked out the most in the whole school.

Personality Description: She IS all that, and she knows it too. She's extremely self confident, and though she may be loud, and just a bit annoying, she is never shallow, and will never hesitate to help out her friends. She hates sports, just hates them, especially because she knows that they're the only thing she'll never be good at. She is a surprisingly wonderful cook, and when questioned, only responds, "My dad was a chef at some restaurant."

Loves acting on top of almost everything, and is great at it too, that and she's really good with money, saving every single penny possible. She has never been known to have a selfish side, though people tend to stereotype her like that. She is actually quite mysterious when you get to know her very well, trying to hide some of the deeper secrets she has. Loves squabbling about with Sakura, and they often go shopping together to make up for it. Constantly worried about her physical appearance, but isn't psycho over it. Loves food, no matter how much she tries not to admit.

Liked subjects: Home EC, English, History

Disliked subjects: Music, Math, Science, PE

Phew, now that THAT's over…

The four girls were whispering to themselves as the walked through the halls of their new school.

"Hey guys, this is it." Tenten spoke up, pointing to a row of lockers lining either side of the hallway. "I'm glad we have such close last names, or first name, in my case."

"Ino, yours is a little far down, but it'll work," Sakura agreed.

"Right. Hey, would you look at that! My first period is right down the hall from my locker!! Luckyy!!" Ino sang.

Tenten, who had already organized all of her stuff, began swirling around in the hall, arms outstretched, catching interested looks from passerby. "Everything's so new looking!" she exclaimed, ponytail flying as she swung out and grabbed her locker door before coming to a neat stop next to her backpack. "I love this place so much already…" She smiled contentedly.

"It IS n-new," Hinata said nervously. Even though she had gotten over her stuttering in seventh grade with the help of her friends, it still came back whenever she got nervous. "But there are… g-guys here too, Tenten." She finished with a worried look.

"The more guys, the better," Ino giggled, slamming her locker shut.

"I couldn't agree more." Sakura nodded furiously, bubble gum hair bouncing up and down. Both girls began to imagine all the cool guys there would be to flirt with.

Tenten gave Hinata a small, reassuring smile and a warm hug. "It'll be okay. That guy you have a crush on is here, right?"

Hinata nodded and Tenten gave a laugh. "Don't be shy, Hinata. Believe in yourself, always, even though that sounds extremely cheesy!"

She and Hinata broke out in quiet laughter as Hinata wished she could be more like Tenten. Smart and charming and brave…

"Thanks Tenten. Do you want to go to class now, and leave Ino and Sakura to their fantasies?"

"Sure," Tenten replied, hoisting up her backpack. "Let's compare schedules."

Now I'll take a bit to show you the schedules of the four girls. Just to kill you with boredom.

Haruno Sakura

Period 1: Science

Period 2: Home EC

Period 3: History

Period 4: Math

Period 5: PE

Period 6: English

Hyuuga Hinata

Period 1: History

Period 2: Home EC

Period 3: Science

Period 4: English

Period 5: PE

Period 6: Math

Tenten

Period 1: History

Period 2: English

Period 3: Math

Period 4: Science

Period 5: PE

Period 6: Home EC

Yamanaka Ino

Period 1: Science

Period 2: PE

Period 3: Math

Period 4: History

Period 5: English

Period 6: Home EC

Okay. Back to the story.

"Hey, we have two classes together!" Tenten said excitedly, pocketing her schedule once more. "Too bad we didn't get to compare with Sakura and Ino."

"I guess that means we might bump into them in a class later," Hinata murmured. Both girls exchanged smiles and headed off into History class.

Sorry for all the interruptions, but let me take a second to explain the school, and all that has happened up to this event.

Let's see… the four girls have known each other since second grade, when Tenten came from China and befriended shy Hyuuga Hinata, but the four weren't official friends until fourth grade. Tenten stayed best friends with Hinata, and very gradually became her role model. In fourth grade, Sakura and Ino, who were close friends, started getting interested in Tenten. Ino was the most popular girl in the elementary, but Tenten was being rumored to be "perfect." Sakura and Ino would hear bits and pieces about this "perfect" girl, who was pretty, nice, smart, athletic, creative, and talented at everything.

Eventually, they confronted this girl, and before the four knew it, they were as thick as thieves.

They continued going to the same school, but starting middle school, they went to Misako Jr., a private school for girls. All of their families were rich, so they attended this school, which included dorms and extra activities. Then they went to Misako High for a year, but the area got crowded, and some of the girls had to be transferred to Misato High two blocks down. Misato was once an all boy high school, but over the summer, necessary changes had been made to accommodate the girls.

The town committee drew the line in the middle of the town. Ino, Sakura, and Tenten's homes were on the side to go to Misato, while the Hyuuga estate was smack dab in the middle of the town, so the committee decided to let the only high school girl who lived there choose which school to attend herself. Of course, she picked Misato, and there they all were.

All four girls share a large house-like dorm in the "rich people community" as it's sometimes called; Sakura and Tenten are roommates, as are Ino and Hinata, thanks to the Hyuuga influence. Occasionally however, the girls stay at either the Hyuuga estate or Tenten's house, as both Ino and Sakura's houses are on the far east side of the town.

Now let's get into families a little bit.

Starting with Hyuuga Hinata, of the prestigious Hyuuga clan, the biggest and richest clan in all the country. Despite the high ranking of their class, the Hyuugas lived in a household where there was much tension. Hinata is known to have a cousin brother who is six months older than her and many cousins, most of which attend Misato or Misako. She also has a younger sister who is in Misako Jr. and a father whom she has never been particularly close with. It is for this reason that she keeps trying her best schoolwise to keep within her father's standards. She often feels pressure from various expectations and she is constantly trying to escape her tense household by hanging out with her friends which she deems as much more safe and relaxing.

Haruno Sakura's father is secretary to the President of Websmart, a business dedicated to keeping the Internet safe and blocking inappropriate sites. Therefore, her father is extremely strict about staying safe and before meeting Ino, Sakura was a very sheltered child, which explains her well developed "inner self" and slightly hard outer shell. Her mother passed away when giving birth to her little brother, who is three years younger. She often gets into fights with her father, who is incredibly stressed and often comes home tired. Her father drinks more often, and she is deeply concerned when he does, and it often disrupts her studies.

Much of Tenten's past is unknown to everyone, and her friends only know a limited amount. What is known however is that both of her parents are deceased and that she lives with an older brother and four older sisters. Her older brother, who is currently graduated from Harvard University, is five years older than her (went into college a year early) and supports the family. He buys and sells stocks, and is the lead singer in a hit band called "Rain". This is unknown to the general public except the four girls and Tenten's family As a result, Tenten's brother is away occasionally, but he does his best to stay at home. He often has work around town, and coincidentally bumps into Tenten a lot (kind of like Touya from CCS). Tenten's family had a great inheritance from an unknown place, and it is unknown what her family background truly is. She herself, ironically, was entrusted with the most money, even as the youngest. She hangs around with her brother a lot.

Yamanaka Ino's father is the VP to the President of Websmart, and Sakura was introduced to Ino through her father. Ino is a single child who lives with both her mother and father. She also has a younger cousin sister who is staying with her to study abroad. Her cousin is currently attending Misako Jr. Ino's father used to be a chef at "some restaurant" she refuses to mention, perhaps meaning it had some connection to her weary family history. Her mother owns a small flower shop that does well business, particularly in the spring time. This is the reason that Ino has shown an acute appreciation of flowers, and decorates her room with them. She has a special bond with her cousin, despite being known to complain that she is a "complete pain in the butt who does nothing but study all the time."

The girls had been given a few days upon arrival to relax and unpack before the first day of school. They had brought just a few things to the dorm, and they planned to redecorate the whole thing, as it was their home for the next four years.

Anyways, Tenten and Hinata headed off to History class together. Both of them caught many eyes for two different reasons.

"The one with the brown hair's pretty," a boy they passed murmured, awed at seeing girls after several years without being near them.

"Definitely," his friend whispered back. "And her friend's a Hyuuga. Wouldn't want to be caught by Neji asking _her_ out."

Plenty of girls noticed them too.

"Hey, it's Miss Tenten!" A freshman stated, having recognized the tenth grader from middle school. "And Miss Hinata!"

"She looks exactly like Tao from Rain!" A fangirl exclaimed.

"What?"

"Does not."

"Let me see!!"

A crowd formed to watch the two girls who were walking down the hall. Hinata noticed the many eyes and shrunk several sizes, tugging on the overly long sleeve of Tenten's sweater.

"Umm, Tenten-chan…"

"Yeah?" They neared their classroom. "What's up?"

Hinata adjusted her backpack and looked around at the many faces. "…N-never mind."

Tenten shrugged and thrust open the door of their first period class. "We're here anyhow. Ugh, I've never really liked History."

"I'm sure it'll be fun this year," Hinata assured her. "Neji-niisan said History was interesting here because they have a good teacher."

"That sounds promising," the other replied with a smile on her face. "More than that, I can't wait for after school. Tennis _and_ track!!"

"You really love sports, Tenten-chan!"

"Yeah, probably because my niichan loves sports so much." She stuck out her tongue playfully and added, "Even though my sisters sure don't!"

The teacher came bustling in. He was a man in his early thirties, quite attractive, enough so that he earned appreciative stares from several of the girls. He looked around the room to see most of the students already sitting at desks and gave a small sigh. He noticed Tenten and Hinata still standing and he stared at Tenten for a split second as he put his briefcase down on his desk.

"Do you happen to have a…" he questioned her before stopping and shaking his head. "Never mind."

Tenten smiled. "Please, I don't mind you asking questions."

The teacher smiled back. "No, it's nothing." He stood up and announced, "I'm sorry to you who have already sat down, but I'm afraid I have seat arrangements for you all."

The whole class groaned openly but proceeded to stand up and get their things together. They all gathered to the back of the classroom as the teacher filed through several papers.

"Period one…" he muttered. "…okay. Then we'll start with this desk over here."

With that, he began to call out names. Of the people in the class, the ones that caught Tenten's eye the most were a girl named Misuka and her friends. They were wearing really tight jackets and really short skirts and a lot of makeup. There was also a really lazy looking boy with interesting hair that stuck up and another boy with really long hair that was almost as long as her own. Besides that, he had pale eyes, and all the girls were ogling him.

"Hinata-chan, that your cousin?" Tenten whispered, gesturing to the boy with long hair who had just settled in a seat next to the window.

"H-hai. I advise you not to get too close to him. He has some scary fangirls."

Both girls giggled as quietly as they could.

"Tenten." The teacher spoke up. "Please take a seat _next to Neji_."

The two girls stopped giggling, and as if on cue, all the girls in the classroom began glaring at Tenten as furiously as they could, as if the brown haired girl might either give up her seat or die a painful death from their stares. Tenten merely smiled at Hinata and took up her backpack, making her way to the seat next to the extremely um… popular Hyuuga.

"Hi!" she stated cheerfully, setting down her backpack. "You're Hinata's cousin, right? I'm Tenten."

He stared at her outstretched hand suspiciously but shook it.

"It sure is beautiful outside today," she remarked, staring past him and out the window happily. "Can't wait for track."

Neji started. "You have track?"

Tenten looked at him and smiled. Neji thought it was the most dazzling smile he had ever seen, but quickly crushed that thought with a mental hammer.

"Yeah!!" she sat down and took out her binder and history book. The pencil case she produced had little chibi pandas all over it. "I love running."

Neji smirked, finally having met a girl who didn't gawk over him. "That's different."

"Yeah," she said smoothly, chocolate eyes shining like they always did.

"Class!" The teacher said, as everyone had settled down. "My name is Mr. Akima, welcome to first period History."

He stood aside and opened the door. A young man in his early twenties stepped in.

"This is my TA for this period." Mr Akima stated.

Tenten jumped up with a start. "Oniichan!!"

Twenty year old Tao Li (Takuto) grinned up at his little sister before giving the class a small bow. "Good morning, I'm Takuto, your TA. I'm also Tenten's brother."

"Aha, I knew there was a resemblance there," Mr. Akima realized.

All of a sudden, all the girls who had given Tenten death glares were smiling at her in the most amiable way possible. She sweatdropped. It wasn't her fault her brother was amazingly cute in that infuriating way brothers were.

Neji looked mildly amused by the brown haired girl next to him. The glistening locks of brown hair tied up in a high ponytail swung back and forth and he reached out to touch it as discreetly as possible. Soft, just as he had thought.

"Ne ne, isn't that Tao from Rain?!" One girl whispered to her friend. Misuka happened to overhear and quickly turned from her conversation to look at the TA.

"OH-EM-GEE!!" she cried, pointing. "It so totally is Tao from Rain!!"

Tenten's eyes widened in mortification as most of the girls squealed and rose from their seats. They rushed around her brother with cries of, "I love you, Tao!" and, "Will you give me an autograph?"

"Hey, woah there," Takuto said with a sigh. "Everyone, I'm not Tao, I'm _Takuto_. I've heard that I look like Tao a lot. Sorry to disappoint."

All of the eager fangirls immediately let out a groan of sorrow and went slowly back to their seats.

"Humph," Misuka said with a purposefully loud voice, standing up and tossing her blond hair over her shoulder while looking straight at Tenten. "As if the brother of that wench could be someone as _handsome_ and _talented_ as Tao."

At this Takuto visibly tensed, but Tenten merely smiled and cocked her head to the right. Most of the guys followed the way her hair shined as it moved.

"You're right, Misuka," she stated calmly, standing up as well before shaking her head firmly at her brother. "Thanks for that."

"What do you mean?" the other carried on in that annoyingly squeaky high voice of hers. "Isn't it clear to you that it was a diss? Or are you just too slutty and stupi-"

"No, no." Tenten interrupted. "Thanks to you saying that, I'm only going to try harder in this class. I used to hate History. Thanks to you… it's a challenge now, and I happen to _love_ challenges." She sat down smilingly and the whole class was silent.

"Tche, looks like we've got another idiotic bi-"

"That's enough."

Everyone turned to the source of the voice. Mr. Akima had opened his mouth, but the stoic Hyuuga prodigy had beat him to it.

"Neji-kuun!" Misuka squealed, moving her skirt up. "Don't tell me you're actually siding with this-"

"I said, that's enough," he answered, staring at Tenten. She was smiling full on at him, and he thought it was beautiful. He was also glad that she was facing him so no other boy could see it.

"Neji-kuu-"

"Please, everyone settle down. We need to get this class started," Mr. Akima said. "Tenten, Misuka, Neji, if you would see me after school, it would be excellent."

Tenten gave him a slight nod. "Yes sir, of course." She looked slightly apologetic at Neji, but he gave something as close to a smile as possible, so she knew it was okay,

Misuka seemed visibly shocked and was about to protest, but Takuto silenced her with a small glare.

"In the classroom, the teacher is king. And I'm vice king. I advise you to agree," he told her coldly.

Hinata gave Tenten a little worried look, but she smiled back and gave her a peace sign.

"It'll be okay," she mouthed, and Hinata nodded.

And finally, Mr. Akima had the chance to take attendance and get class started. Indeed, Tenten found History class to be amusing, especially because Misuka had given her a challenge, and gotten her more interested in the subject as a whole.

Takuto saw this sudden enthusiasm for her "used to be" least favorite subject and smiled. "Leave it to Tenten to make light of a bad situation."

-----

Hinata turned to look at the guy seated next to her. "A-ano, do you have an eraser I could borrow? I seem to have left mine in my dorm." She couldn't help staring at his hair.

The boy glanced at her. "Mendokusai…" he said, fishing an eraser out of his pouch.

"G-gomenasai," she responded, taking the eraser. "A-arigato gozaimasu."

"Say…" he said, recognizing the snow white eyes. "You're Hyuuga's cousin, aren't you? Hinata, was it?"

"Yeah," she said smiling slightly. "Thanks for letting me borrow your eraser."

"I'm Shikamaru. Nara Shikamaru." He held out his hand to the shy girl. "Neji's friend."

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata, as you know already. Pleased to meet you, Shikamaru."

They shook hands and Hinata dropped the eraser on his desk.

"Looks like Neji and Tenten are hitting it off great over there," Shika remarked, watching Tenten say something with great enthusiasm to the prodigy and making him grin.

"You know Tenten-chan?" A curious Hinata asked, tucking her short hair behind her ear.

"I think everyone in the class knows her well by now."

"No, I mean-"

"Yeah, we're neighbors. I still can't believe she's never met Neji. I mean, it's almost weird that she hasn't seen him yet because he always comes over to my house," he said with a laugh.

She realized he had been joking and giggled slightly.

"So you must be pretty rich," she noted. Immediately, she blushed, realizing how rude that had sounded. "Sorry, that sounded a bit bold."

"It's okay. And yes, I guess so, troublesome as it is…" he drawled,

"Troublesome to be rich?"

"He thinks everything is troublesome," a bright voice put in. Both looked up to see Tenten and Neji standing over them.

"It's break time," Neji stated in monotone when they put on questioning faces.

"It's funny how everyone's connected," Tenten mentioned with a laugh. "Neji's cousins with Hinata, I'm one of Hinata's best friends, Shika-kun's my neighbor, and Neji's Shika-kun's friend!"

"Sure is," Shikamaru agreed.

Neji looked at Tenten and Hinata. "Would you… like to have lunch with us?"

"Of course!" Tenten said happily, clapping her hands. "Thanks for asking… I mean, we're new here, so we've been kind of apprehensive and such…"

"I'm sure that'll be a different story soon," Shika mentioned, catching the admiring stares Tenten was getting from the guys. "Miss Perfect."

"Say that again and I'll pound your head in, Shika-kun."

"Doubt that."

"Oh shut up, you."

"As you can see," the pineapple head yawned. "We get along like two peas in a pod."

"Lazy ass," Tenten put in.

"Annoying."

"You think everyone's annoying!" she protested. Neji smirked and Hinata sweatdropped. They argued almost as much as Sakura and Ino.

"Tenten."

She looked up in surprise. "Oniichan!"

Takuto bent down slightly and tousled her hair with a grin. "How's my little panda been doing while I was gone? Everyone okay back at home?"

"Yea, everyone's good."

"Why do you call her your little panda?" A curious Neji asked.

"See her hair in buns and you'll understand," Shikamaru replied, as if it were common sense.

"Good afternoon, Takuto-san," Hinata stated with a small bow.

"Hey Hinata! How's that video coming along? The one that stars Tian here?" He winked at her and Tenten blushed.

"It's finished," the Hyuuga replied happily. "She's so cute in it."

"Great! Can I come pick it up some time?"

And before Tenten could say anything, her friend said, "Of course!"

Tenten sweatdropped. Neji and Shikamaru exchanged secret grins and she scowled at them, holding up her fist. Hinata loved making videos… especially when Tenten was the main character.

Here we make a small character comparison.

Tenten Sakura (CCS)

Hinata Tomoyo

Takuto (vaguely) Touya

"Anyway," Takuto started, thanking Hinata. "I don't really like that Misuka girl… I have a feeling she'll try to get you again outside of class, Tian."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful!" she replied.

"Mendokusai… but we'll watch over her Takuto," Shika promised his neighbor. "Right, Neji?"

Neji nodded.

"Thanks, all of you. I entrust Tiantian to you guys, then! Looks like the bell's going to ring. Go ahead and pack up." With that, Takuto ruffled Tenten's hair once more before walking over to the teacher's desk.

"I agree with him, Tenten-chan," Hinata said worriedly, "I don't really think Misuka is the best type of person. Please be careful."

Tenten smiled at all of them. "The only way I'll lose to her is if I stoop down to her level. Don't worry Hinata! Whatever she does to me will only be to her disadvantage."

"Sorry," came a sudden voice. Three heads turned to look at Neji, who had been silent for a while. "Sorry Tenten. I… if I hadn't kept talking to you, you wouldn't be her target."

It was quiet for a little while before Shikamaru broke out with a full grin. "Well would you look at that. Our tough little Hyuuga's gone soft, hasn't he?"

Neji instantly reached out and smashed his face into the desk.

"Mendokusai," he sighed, muffled by the desk.

Tenten and Hinata both laughed, and Neji smiled. All of a sudden, the bell rang, and all four of them raced to grab their backpacks and head out the door. Tenten sprinted out the door, then dashed back in, tiptoed up to give her brother a kiss on the cheek and a quick, "Thanks," and dashed back out to where Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata were waiting for her.

"Thanks for waiting, guys," she chirped. "I think we have five minutes to get to second period, right?"

"When's lunch?" Hinata asked.

Now this is crucial to understanding the story, so let me outline all of the break and after school activity details.

All classes for all grades work like this. Since there are six different periods, what happens is that you rotate and have "Block" periods. Mondays, however, are always "single period" which means you have all seven classes. For Tuesday through Friday, you are given a block schedule, so on Tuesday 1-3-5 and on Wednesday 2-4-6 and so on, so forth. Also, it is noted that music is not a required subject in Misato, though it was in Misako.

You don't have any breaks on Monday, and lunch is after fourth period. On block days, you have a break between your first and second period and lunch between your second and last period. There is a thirty minute homeroom before the last period of the day, since it is a dorm system where all students stay in dorms and on school campus and the school was considerate enough to give students a chance to finish homework before the end of the day to have time for some fun after school.

Lunch time is roughly an hour and thirty minutes long, and you are permitted to go anywhere on campus to eat. There are various restaurants: Panda Express, Olive Garden, Jamba Juice, Onami, and different types of cuisines, most of which are at the Food Court. You may also go back to the kitchen of your dorm and prepare something, or take a trip to the Ralph's on campus.

There are lots of cool things on campus: indoor and outdoor swimming pool, recreational center (includes bball courts), soccer field, football field, gigantic library, park, bathhouse, restaurants, Rite Aid, Ralph's, mini shopping mall (with designer stuff, a rich school, remember?)

The look of the school imitates _Gakuen Alice_ which is the name of a school which also shares the name of its anime. Search "Gakuen Alice" if you are interested. The school, however, does not have its own money system as does Gakuen Alice.

To top it off, there's a bike rental area because the campus is so huge.

The dorms are luxurious Especially if you can afford the top notch ones. I'd settle for even the less fancy ones, but… I'll be getting into the most expensive ones because those are the ones our characters are staying in. Well, they have three HUGE bedrooms, one bedroom shared by two students. There should be four students per "house" and the third is a room for two guests on the event of sleepovers. There are two HUGE bathrooms, complete with dual sinks, a large, mini pool like bathtub that's connected to a shower, and a cushioned toilet. They also contain full length mirrors. There are also TV sets, a large 48" plasma in the living room and two smaller ones, one in each room. The house is two stories, with an attic to store random things. The bedrooms can be designed and decorated with furniture from the on campus furniture store. Also, there is a home appliance and decorator store on campus, to buy pillowcases and comforters and such. Each bedroom contains a giant walk-in closet that is separated into two by removable doors. The kitchen is HUGE as well, with a giant refrigerator, a bar like breakfast nook, spinning high chairs, an oven, a microwave, thousands of cooking utensils and a huge dining table. The living room is large, and may be furnished for free as desired. In the girls' house, there is a balcony that outlooks the lake near the far end of Misato: special treatment for the Hyuuga. The "rich" neighborhood within campus, the one we focus on in this story, is co-ed, meaning it's a section that contains both boy and girl houses. They get the best views, the best living areas, and are closest to both the school and the Food Courts.

All four boys that are focused on in this story live in the house across from them- something they don't know until in the evening. (shhh!!)

We can get onto the girls' after school activities now.

Sakura has nothing on Monday, fencing on Tuesday, cooking on Wednesday, journalism and computerized art on Thursday, and nothing on Friday.

Tenten has track and tennis on Monday, cheerleading on Tuesday, track and tennis on Wednesday, comica on Thursday, and nothing on Friday.

Hinata has video making on Monday, photography on Tuesday, nothing on Wednesday, comica and journalism on Thursday, and nothing on Friday.

Ino has stage improv. on Monday, cheerleading on Tuesday, cooking on Wednesday, jazz dance on Thursday, and nothing on Friday.

cheerleading: The official group meet is once a week, right after school, on Tuesdays. There are also non-mandatory meetings formed on the team members' schedules to practice on occasions. The cheerleading squad cheers on different male major sports games, such as football, soccer, lacrosse, and basketball. They also perform a skit to represent themselves in the winter recital.

comica: A group that meets once a week on Thursdays to roleplay (rp), cosplay, draw, make skits, debate, and just be fans of different animes, mangas, doujinshis, and video game rpgs. They perform a small Christmas themed skit combining different animes and video game rpgs during the school's winter recital and a series of different skits made by different groups come spring in the school talent show. In comica, it is required to perform in a skit during both the recital and talent show, even if you're a tree or a rock.

computerized art: Every bit what the title says. Basically, there's a class portion, where the teacher teaches you about advance (no beginners please!) computer art in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and other up to date programs. Then, there's a free for all session, where you may create all types of art on the computer, whether it be music, videos, animations, manga, or art. They show a slideshow during the spring talent show composed of pictures and artworks the members wanted to submit to it.

cooking: For people who desire to cook, or who desire to _learn_ how to cook. A place where recipes are shared and tested out, and where different things are experimented. It is the cooking club who prepares the food for the dances and banquets and special dinners. There is also a semiannual "cook off" between Misato and Misako, once during the month of December, once during April.

fencing: Basically an activity that covers all means of weaponry, from swords, to bow and arrow, to the ninja style shuriken, to nun chucks, and all sorts of stuff. They meet twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They run and coordinate the Misato Olympics, and perform in special performances that demonstrate their skill with that particular weapon. There is also a schoolwide vote on whom the best "weapon master" or "mistress" is, and that person is usually in the fencing club.

jazz dance: Where you share dance moves and funky music and create fun dance routines. The jazz dance team is a brand new team formed when Misato became a mixed gender school. It is, however, for not only girls, but guys as well. There are no competitions yet to be known of, but you can be sure that there will be at least one every year. They plan to make a dance routine for the winter recital.

journalism: The group which creates the weekly newspaper known as "Fushigi Geshigomu, or "The Mysterious Eraser." It has sports sections and important upcoming news as well as funny comic strips (either by members of journalism or comica), random polls, and gag articles and advertisements. The newspapers are printed professionally, and the journalism and photography groups often coordinate efforts so that most of the pictures used in the newspaper are taken by members of the photography club. (Which is the reason why Tenten appears in the newspaper frequently) They also plan the yearbook along with the photography club.

photography: A group of people who love taking pictures and filming videos!! The members of photography often take pictures for the school weekly newspaper and for banners, flyers, and other such things. They learn the basic and complex methods of taking pictures, and learn how different angles can change the mood of a picture. The photography club makes a slideshow for the winter recital opening of different places, staff, students, and events.

stage improvisation: The stage improv. group just meets to have a little fun goofing off on stage. They take pieces from classics like _The Tempest,_ or _Romeo and Juliet,_ by Shakespeare and twist them by means of quick improvisation. They do a piece during the winter recital, without any practice, free form improvisation. If they practiced, it wouldn't be called improvisation, now would it?

tennis: The tennis team meets twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice. There are several tennis competitions all year long. They meet in the tennis courts on campus, to the far left, next to the park and bathhouse. Further details included on pamphlet. (Pick up at front office prior to first day if interested)

track: The track team meets twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays to warm up and practice. They have many different competitions against Misako, Namida Public High School, and Shibusa Territory High School. Some categories include the mile run, high jump, 100 meter dash, and other things. Meet down at the track on campus, a little north of the football field. Further details included on pamphlet. (Pick up at front office prior to first day if interested)

video making: A group of people who are interested in anything that has to do with motion pictures. They work with computerized art to put together something big for the spring talent show. They also make a small animation along with comica for it as well. Not only that, they film the monthly "special news broadcast" outlining special events for that month as a back up for the newspaper. This is broadcasted on channel 1 on the TV set in your dorm the fifth of each month.

Whew, that was pretty tiring. Well, moving on then…

"Lunch is after fourth period today, Hinata-san," Neji reminded her. "I advise you both go over the schedule. It was quite confusing my first few weeks here."

"Well, we should split up to go to second period, then," Shikamaru said, checking the clock in the hallway. "If we're going to have lunch together, we need somewhere to meet."

"I thought it might be nice to go to the Food Court and search over there," Tenten suggested. "How about we meet at the bike rental area? It's pretty near here, and Hinata and I have passed it a couple times before so we know it well."

"Sounds fine," Neji stated.

"Well, I guess we'll see each other in a little bit," Hinata said shyly, waving at the three.

And they headed off to second period.

----

**WLH: Sooo? Yeah, bad grammar, no proofreading, cheeseyy descriptors, you name it. GAWD was it fun writing though xD**

**I've been getting into Gakuen Alice again recently. I helped it out some by advertising it in my story :)**

**Yeah, so review if you have anything to say? You can criticize, but this is a kind of laid back story either way, so I won't take it to heart as much as I would a good piece of criticism on another one of my stories. Believe me, I know this can be improved a thousand times, and then another thousand times. Trust me on this one.**

**Feel the Tenten love :D**

**Hope you liked? Keep reading, if you want :PP **


	2. Lunchtime plans

**WLH: Next chapter! I left you guys with a cliffhanger at the end because I felt really evil. Anyways, I want this story to focus on friendship, and the strength it contains if you put it to good use. Well, I think I'll be able to tie in this theme eventually :P**

**I got so many positive reviews! WOW! I like it :D And I love writing this story, such a great stress reliever. YEAHYEAH,TENTEN'SPERFECT. But isn't it awesome!? LOL you know, I was never meaning this to be Tenten centric, but she's my favorite, so I'm biased. Although I love the other three very much as well, if they were all perfect... well that wouldn't be much of a story, would it? xD**

**And you'll find later that Tenten is like that for a reason, because of her past. Tehe. You'll see.**

**I'm SO GLAD you guys like my Tenten! I happen to wuv her very much myself and if you don't, oh well, I still love you :D**

-----

Now we go back a little bit to Sakura and Ino.

"Hey, they just left us behind!" Ino said, taking up her backpack and glancing at her schedule. "I have science here first period."

"Same here," Sakura noted. "We better hurry the bell's about to ring."

They dashed to the classroom and ran inside. Most of the students were already sitting down in chairs and doing random stuff like passing notes and flicking spitballs at each other. Sakura and Ino each sank down into seats beside each other and took a good look around.

"I don't see any cute guys," Ino intoned glumly, resting her chin in her palms.

"There's that blond guy with the blue eyes," Sakura mentioned, brushing her pink hair back with her fingers. "But he sounds really obnoxious."

"Seriously."

"Hey, you know those two girls who just came in?" A guy whispered. "They're pretty cute, don't you think?"

The blond "obnoxious" guy next to him looked around. "Where? Let me see!!"

"The one with the pink hair and the one with the really long blond hair."

"Ahhh…" Naruto said, spotting them. _The one with the blond hair looks a little too demanding for me. _He thought. _But the pink haired one is pretty._

He looked around, saw that the teacher had her back turned, and quickly made his way to the two girls. It wasn't that he was interested in them or anything, just thought they were pretty, and he knew they were the type of girls the girl he was really interested in would hang out with. He had known that girl, the girl who loved teddy bears and had shining brown eyes and an angelic face, would indeed come to his school, but he had yet to find her. He also knew that Hinata had a friend with pink hair, and this girl he was interested in was Hinata's friend as well, so he thought the pink haired girl would know the one he liked.

"Um, excuse me," he started.

Both girls turned to him with questioning faces and he continued, "Do you happen to know a girl named Hyuuga Hinata?"

Sakura nodded slowly, and Ino countered, "Yeah we know her, but what do want to know for?"

Naruto brightened. "You know Hina-chan? Then you must be Sakura and Ino!! Nice to meet you, I'm Hinata's friend, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Pleasure," Sakura said, opening her notebook and writing down something the teacher was writing on the board. Ino shook his hand.

"Hinata-chan is one of our best friends," the pink haired girl added, pencil squeaking slightly on the surface of her notebook. "Hey Ino, you gonna take these down or what? You'll be busted for life if you get another B- this year."

"Yeah, yeah," Ino waved her hand in dismissal. "So Naruto, know any cute guys that go here?"

At this he looked a little taken aback, but proudly announced, "Yup. I'm one of the most popular guys here."

Sakura looked slightly more interested now, shutting her notebook and taking her eyes off the board completely. "Really?"

"Yeah! Ano sa… there's Hyuuga Neji, but he has scary fangirls, so he's kind of hard to get to… Uchiha Sasuke, kind of a cold bastard sometimes, but he has fangirls too. And then there's Nara Shikamaru… super lazy, but all the girls love him anyhow, and then…" he paused dramatically for a bit, "… there's me."

"Hyuuga Neji, huh…?" Ino murmured. "I wonder just how hot _he_ is…"

"A lazy guy seems perfect for me, but that Sasuke guy sounds interesting too," Sakura said happily, scratching random stuff in her notebook absently.

"Hey, do you guys happen to know a girl with long brown hair that has an obsession for bears?" Naruto asked hopefully, looking at each girl. "Do you?"

"Bears?" Ino questioned quizzically, having been snapped out of her reverie. "Umm… you mean Tenten-chan?"

"Chibi-chan likes bears, doesn't she?" Sakura prompted.

"Tenten…" Naruto murmured…

_A seven year old girl with dual brown buns in her hair rang the doorbell of the Hyuuga compound cheerfully. "Hinata-chaaaan!!" she called._

_The door was opened by a young woman in her early thirties who had a gentle smile on her face. "Why hello, dear," she said. "Come on in, I'll go call Hinata downstairs."_

"_Thank you," the little girl smiled, stepping inside and removing her shoes. The woman nodded and disappeared, and soon, little pattering noises came down the stairs. The little girl stood up and a charming smile slid into place as a white eyed little girl with indigo hair about her age appeared, a small blond boy who looked about her age as well, following._

"_Hinata-chan!" The girls ran and embraced each other._

"_Good afternoon, Ten-chan! You left Kuma-kuma-chan here yesterday." Hinata said, clapping her hands together._

"_Yea," Tenten giggled, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I came to collect him! I couldn't sleep very well without him."_

"_You really love bears, Ten-chan!"_

"_Yup!" she smiled, showing all of her little teeth. The little blond boy standing slightly behind Hinata blushed lightly._

"_Just a second, Ten-chan," Hinata said, skipping up the stairs. Tenten smiled and began looking around the Hyuuga entrance with great interest, chocolate eyes shining. The blond boy blinked his blue eyes and slid behind a lamp stand, blushing._

"_Hello!" Tenten called, seeing the boy slip behind the stand. "What's your name?" She began approaching the stand._

"_Ten-chan!" Little Hinata called, running into the hall with a large cream colored bear clasped in her arms. It had a single pale jade ribbon around its neck, and a small heart shaped locket around it as well._

"_Thanks, Hina-chan!" she took the bear gleefully and hugged it tightly. "I'll see you in school then!"_

"_Okay!"_

"_Bye-bye!" the little girl with the cream colored bear called, waving childishly. "Bye Hina-chan!!"_

_And she was gone._

"_N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked the blond boy, who looked a little dazed and frightened at the same time._

"_That was the loveliest girl I've ever seen in my life!" he exclaimed, grinning at the indigo haired girl._

"Do you guys call her Ten-chan?" Naruto asked.

Ino and Sakura exchanged glances before Sakura told him, "It was a childhood nickname. We sometimes call her that, yes, but it was more of a childhood thing."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Then…"

"What's wrong?" Ino said, flicking her hair up and making guys stare involuntarily.

"Well I-"

RIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Time for third period!" Sakura cried, hastily packing. "Listen Naruto, if you can find us at lunchtime and introduce us to your friends that would be great."

"See you around!" Ino called, bursting out of the classroom.

"Okay…" Naruto said quietly. "… I'LL BE SURE TO FIND YOU GUYS DATTEBAYO!!"

----

"Whew, I feel so energized!" Sakura stated loudly, inner self kicking in. "SHANNARO!"

All of a sudden, there was a small hand on her shoulder and she instantly whirled around.

"Funny seeing you here, Sakura-chan," Hinata giggled.

Sakura smiled. "I'm so glad I have Home EC with you, Hinata. You know how much I suck at cooking, right?"

The teacher walked in, and they hustled to their seats.

"Listen," Sakura said quietly, glancing at the teacher who was busy taking roll. "This guy in our Science class came to talk to us, and he said he'd introduce us to some cute guys!"

"That's wonderful," Hinata replied nicely, raising her hand as her name was called.

"I know! And you know what else, one of the guys he mentioned was your cousin, I think. Is it true that he's really hot and popular?"

"H-hai, I would guess so."

The girls continued whispering as the teacher led them over to counters with sinks, knives, and other cooking utensils.

"Ugh…" Sakura muttered, watching the teacher demonstrate how to separate an egg white from the yolk. "I don't think I can do this."

"Sure you can," Hinata said slightly shyly, attempting to be a little more encouraging. "Just keep alternating pouring the egg from one shell to the other and eventually it'll separate."

They each took up an egg and cracked them(it?) open.

"So anyways," Sakura continued, squinting at the two egg shell halves. "This guy's name was… what was it again? Nurato? No wait, it was Naruto, that's right."

Hinata almost dropped her egg. "N-n…naruto-kkun?"

"Yeah! There we go!" Sakura poured her successfully separated yolk into a bowl. "He said he was good friends with you, Hinata-chan."

"I see…" The young Hyuuga was on her third egg, skillfully pouring the substance back and forth, deep in thought.

"And he was asking for Ten-chan, for some strange reason," Sakura added in as an afterthought. "Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!"

"Tenten-chan?"

Hinata looked down at her hands, having finished with her eggs. She vaguely registered the fact that the teacher was explaining how to measure out flour and sugar. _So it was true that all this time, he was still looking for her?_ Hinata thought a little sadly. _Naruto-kun…_

She lapsed into silence, unconsciously helping Sakura pour out the flour. _I'm so jealous of Tenten-chan… she's so cheerful and great and perfect that I almost hate her… I wish she was gone. I wonder if Naruto-kun would-_

There was a loud clatter as Sakura accidentally knocked over the bowl that contained the unneeded egg whites.

"Whoops," she muttered, blushing.

Hinata was snapped out of her thoughts. She was horrified, and quickly shook her head, tightly closing her eyes. _How could I think of my best friend like that? Especially after what she's done for me… I make myself so sick sometimes._

"You okay, Hina-chan?" Sakura asked. "Are you upset I dropped the egg whites? Don't worry, I'll clean it up."

"No, it's okay," Hinata said abruptly. "Thanks Sakura-chan."

At this, the cherryblossom looked highly confused, but shrugged and continued to mop up the egg whites.

_If it hadn't been for her dropping the bowl, _the Hyuuga thought. _I would have actually thought even worse thoughts about Tenten and I would have let my emotions get the better of me._

She looked at the broken egg shells and carefully picked up a half, sighing to herself. _Tenten-chan would never let her emotions or jealousy get the better of her. She's strong._

_And…_ her hand crushed the pathetic egg shell. …_I'm weak._

-----

"Tenten!"

"Oh, hey Ino, you look like you had fun."

The blond scowled and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You won't believe how much we have to run in P.E," she grumbled.

Tenten laughed and pulled out her math book. "Anyhow, I'm glad you're in this class with me. I'd die of boredom in this class if you weren't. Just look at the math book."

"Functionalities and Complex Equations of… Calculus??" The blond sighed, cooling down in the air conditioned classroom. "How… did I get into this class again?"

"You studied really really hard with Sakura-chan and passed the test. That's how," the other responded. "Hey, by the way, we have some guys that want to eat lunch with us. We decided to meet in the bike rental area to head to the Food Court. Sound okay to you?"

"Yeah," Ino replied, her voice muffled by the binder. "Are they hot?"

Tenten giggled and twirled her pencil between her fingers. "You'll just have to come and see for yourself, won't you?"

"…Hey, that's right! I almost forgot!" Ino exclaimed, lifting her head quickly. "I forgot to tell you that this one guy named… Narutu? No, it was Naruto, he said he was going to introduce us to some of his friends… and they're all really hot, from what I know."

"What are their names?"

"Well, there's this really really popular guy name Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's cousin. He sounds like a dream… and… Uchiha Sasuke, and Nara Shikamaru…" Ino gave a small sigh of contentment. "Sakura and I can't wait to meet them."

Tenten bit back a laugh and managed to choke out, "I'm sure he'll introduce them to you soon."

"Really?"

"Really."

"That's good…" Ino shifted slightly so that she was facing Tenten and added, "And that Naruto guy was looking for you."

"For me?" Tenten asked, surprised.

"Yeah… it was pretty queer, but he's not a creep or anything. He's actually pretty cute!"

"Hmm…"

"So'dyou meet any guys worth mentioning yet?" Ino prompted, lowering her voice to a whisper as the teacher began writing on the overhead platform.

Tenten blushed slightly and brushed her bangs back. "I guess you could say that… Well… my bro's our history period's TA, and some of the girls in that class are out to kill me for sitting next to and talking to this… really popular guy. Other than that, nothing."

"Got people after you already, Ten-chan?" Ino teased. "Wha'd you do, kiss the guy in front of the class?"

Tenten sweatdropped and finished solving a quick problem. "More like the guy's got really scary fangirls."

"Niiiice…" Ino whistled. "Just like you to snag a really popular guy. So… is this the guy we'll be having lunch with?"

"Yeap."

"Koolio. Sounds great."

-----

"Science, fourth period… room 407," Tenten read, taking out her math book and stuffing it in her locker.

"Hi Ten-chan," Hinata said. "How was math class?"

"Splendid…ly boring. As much as I like math, I can't help but think how boring Calculus is." She picked up her binder and slipped it in her light green Kipling backpack.

"I have to agree with you," the other murmured back a little gloomily, working at her locker combination. Tenten sensed the other's slight change in attitude and put a hand on her shoulder before walking down the hall and into her Science classroom. Hinata was amazed at how one little pat on the back could make one feel so reassured. She almost ran to English in a complete daze.

----

"No one I know, huh?" The brown haired tenth grader looked intently around the room.

"KYAH!!! SASUKE-KUUN!!!"

Tenten flinched. It was Kaya, one of Misuki's groupies, who was in her history period. She glanced over carefully at the onyx eyed boy that the girl with the short skirt was hugging tightly.

"I'm sooo glad you're in my Science class, Sasuke, my koi!" she squealed again.

"Sasuke, huh?" Tenten said, maybe just a little too loudly. Kaya heard her and immediately turned to look at where the voice had come from. Noticing that is was the girl from history, she immediately glared.

"Sasuke's mine, you dirty wretch. And you know perfectly well that Misuka's got Neji-sama staked out already," she shot.

"I didn't know that girls could ever be so obsessive over guys," Tenten said, a tad sardonically, looking Sasuke up and down. "Uchiha, huh? Your shirt has their emblem."

Sasuke glanced at the girl with mild interest. She had long brown hair, a cheery, cute smile, and a stubborn, strong standing temper. She was also highly observant, he noted. "Kaya, off," he growled, not wanting to put up with the girl anymore. She was inching her shirt up over her bellybutton and it was horrifying. He shook her off and walked slowly towards Tenten.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He said, holding out a hand.

She gave him a little smile and grabbed it. "I'm Tenten. Just Tenten. Nice to meet you, Sasuke."

_C-cute…_ he thought.

Kaya looked angry and unimpressed. "Sasuke-kun!! Come look over here, I have something interesting to show you!"

To her fury, Sasuke had eyes only for the brown haired girl, and was ignoring her completely. Kaya fumed, her dyed black hair almost standing up on end. Her blue make-up caked eyes squinted.

_Just wait till I tell Misuka-sama about this._

With that, she stomped away and sat down at her desk, hard.

"So, did you sign up for any after school things?" Tenten asked with interest, knowing that Sasuke was bound to have signed up for a sport. "I hope you have, because none of my friends signed up for any sports."

He nodded. "Fencing, track… and comica, though it isn't really a sport."

Tenten brightened, "Great! So both you and Neji are doing track and comica!! And you're doing fencing!!! Mmm I can't wait! The katanas are calling me!" She twirled around a couple times, chanting, "Weapons, weapons, weapons…"

Sasuke grinned. He decided he liked this girl, and it was obvious she knew Neji already. It was nice having a girl around who wasn't a complete fan girl.

-----

"Hey Sasuke-teme, I heard from Neji that we're going to go have lunch with some girls and we're meeting by the bike rental area. Got it?"

"Sure."

-----

"Lunch time!!" Tenten cried, jumping in the air. "Kyuu!"

The three girls smiled at her enthusiasm and the small noise she had made afterwards. "Kyu" was a sound that Tenten often made when she was happy or energetic. She also had a sound that she made when she was really awed, scared, or freaked out. To hear what it sounds like, watch Cardcaptor Sakura. It's the same noise that Sakura from CCS makes when she's scared or she thinks something's weird.

"Sasuke-teme, are you sure this is the right way?"

"Of course I'm right, you dobe."

"Shouldn't you know, Naruto? Mendokusai… it's your school, for pete's sake!!"

"Yeah, shouldn't you know?"

"Well, I have my own bike and I've never been here!"

"Dobe, trust me, this is the bike rental place, okay? See the bikes over there?"

"Why you, Sasuke-teme don't you treat me lik-"

"N-naruto-kun!!" Hinata stuttered at the approaching four guys.

"Oi, Hina-chan!! It's been a while!" he called, waving his arms wildly. Next to him was Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru. Tenten skipped over to them all.

"Hiya Sasuke, Shika-kun, Neji," she chirped. Naruto stopped waving his arms and stared at the brown haired girl. She smiled.

"It's you!" Naruto cried.

"EEhhh??!!" Tenten said, backing into Neji. "W-who are you talking about?"

"It's you!! I finally FOUND you!" At the word 'found' he lifted her up in the air and twirled her around with his strong arms. Then, realizing that might have been a bit too weird for the girl to handle, he set her down. "Sorry about that."

"Umm… it's okay," the girl replied, sweatdropping slightly.

"You're Tenten, right?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," she confirmed, nodding.

"This may seem strange, but I've been looking for you all my life… well, most of it, at least."

She blinked a few times and he continued. "I saw you in third grade, when you came over to Hina-chan's house to pick up a bear that she called 'kuma-kuma-chan' that you left behind. And I saw you! And I've been looking for a girl with that same smile, those same eyes!!"

At this, Tenten's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, you're that one really shy boy who backed behind the lamp stand when I tried to say hi to you! Well, nice to meet you." She smiled, and it was the same smile from seven years ago. "I'm Tenten."

"I'm…" he paused dramatically. "… UZUMAKI NARUTO!!!"

Ino and Sakura cracked up.

"Ohh, so that's why you wanted to find Tenten," Sakura laughed, finally understanding. "You should have told us that she had a really unique smile. We would have gotten it off the bat."

"Yeah, right, Hinata?" Ino asked the suddenly quiet and blushing Hyuuga.

"U-um, yes!"

"Hehehe…" Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Neji and Sasuke both scowled at him then noticed each other and began scowling at each other as well.

"So, where are we going to lunch then?" Sakura said, changing the topic. She looked at Sasuke with interest.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ino interrupted, holding her hands up. "Can we get proper introductions rolling here, or what?"

"Sure." Neji said calmly. "I'm Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's cousin."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," the onyx eyed boy droned, somewhat boredly. "Pleasure."

"Mendokusai…" Shikamaru groaned. Neji jabbed him with his elbow and he straightened up, intoning, "Shikamaru. Nara Shikamaru."

"AND I'M-"

"Yes, yes, we know who you are very well by now," Sakura cut in. Naruto grinned at her.

Ino nodded at Tenten and she began.

"Well, I'm Tenten! Nice to meet you guys!" She paused for a moment to think. "Hmm… and I like teddy bears and anime. Kyu!"

"I'm Haruno Sakura and I like shopping… and decorating rooms," Sakura smiled sweetly. "And you don't want to get on my bad side."

Sasuke let out a slow, slightly sarcastic whistle, and she instantly shot him a "bring-it-on-punk" glare. He smirked. He liked this one too.

"Yamanaka Ino! Likes are shopping and acting. Hope we get along, then!" She winked at them, making Shikamaru roll his eyes. He could tell she was going to be a troublesome one.

"H-hyuuga Hinata desu. I like to take videos and pictures…" her eyes gleamed here, "especially of Tenten. Pleased to meet you all."

"Great!" Tenten chirped, sweatdropping at Hinata's glinting eyes. "Let's eat! I'm hungry, hungry, hungry!!!"

Everyone laughed or giggled or smirked or "mendokusai"-ed and they all went to go rent bikes, except for Tenten, who magically produced silver and red roller blades out of nowhere. She sat down on the curb, clipping shut her rollerblades and putting on her knee and elbow pads. She straightened the helmet on her ponytail and slipped on finger cut-off gloves. She sat there for a while, waiting for everyone to come out with their bikes. The wind rustled through the trees and a cream speckled bird landed daintily next to her.

"Konichiwa, birdie-chan," she whispered softly, letting it nibble at her finger. "How's the weather going to be like tomorrow?"

It looked up at her wonderingly, and she stroked it on the head.

"I didn't know that birds were very good weather forecasters," a smooth voice came from behind her. She put down the bird and turned around to see Neji, who had been the first one to get his bike. He sat down next to her and the bird turned to look at him, cocking its head to the side.

"I have a vague idea what they're thinking about from time to time," Tenten responded. "It'll rain tomorrow, this one says. They're rather intelligent creatures, but not as much as dogs, I found."

"Rain? In this clear sky?" Neji asked, somewhat doubting her.

"Yeah. I trust this one. She says the air has changed." She let it walk on her finger and raised her hand. It flew off into the distance.

"You're some girl," he commented with a small grin.

She smiled, and it reminded him of an angel (Neji's gone cheesy, it's the end of the world. You may now scream like an idiot and run for your lives). "Thank you."

One by one they filed out of the bike rental office, wheeling out bikes that they had chosen. Tenten glanced at every one of them.

Hinata's was pale blue and pink, 10 speed. Sakura's was as pink as a bike could get, and glittery to top it off. Ino was in the process of dragging out a shiny, metallic lavender bike with white stripes down the sides.

Tenten noted with a certain degree of amusement that the guys hadn't particularly worried about the color of their bikes. Neji's was simple, black and silver, 15 speed. Sasuke's was dark blue and black, which reminded Tenten of bruises. Shikamaru had a plain silver one that said "Quicksilver" on it in white.

And horrifyingly, Naruto had a gold and orange bike. He looked extremely happy.

"Yosh! Let's GOOOO!" he cried, raising a fist.

They all mounted, and off they went.

Push, glide. Push, glide. Push, glide. Tenten laughed, eyes shining, as the wind raced past her. Her chocolate brown ponytail flew gracefully around her, bangs rippling in tune to the rhythm of her pushing.

"Tenten you're so cute!" admired Hinata, who was filming her. Tenten made a small, embarrassed noise from the front and everyone smiled, especially Hinata.

_Swish._

She pivoted and turned around, going backwards. Shikamaru, who led the group of bicycles, let out a little smile.

"There's a post behind you, Ten-chan!" Hinata called warningly, fumbling her video camera with one hand and driving the bike with another. Tenten slowed down, pushed off the post with her hands, and vaulted over, flipping completely backwards and landing, unfazed.

"Whoo, that took a lot of effort."

All of the guys' jaws dropped.

"Tenten takes gymnastics," Sakura explained to Sasuke, who was next to her. He regarded her with a small smirk and she scowled. "It feels like you're laughing at me when you look at me like that," she mumbled.

This raised his smirk even further.

Meanwhile, Hinata was overjoyed at the fact that she had caught Tenten's trick on footage. When Naruto leaned over to her a little bit to study the bit of film she was replaying over and over again, she almost dropped the camera.

"N-naruto-kun!"

"Sorry Hinata, did I scare you?" He gave her that same foxy grin he always had. "Looks like you never gave up on filming, huh?" He reached over with a hand to straighten the screen so that he could see it better and her face went up in flames.

"Wow, that's an amazing angle. Makes the trick Tenten did look even more impressive," he commented. "You're really great at this stuff, aren't you?"

She blushed and smiled a little bit, wanting to play with her fingers, but not able to because of the bike and the camera. "I-I have other videos that I edited too," she stuttered. "I've got Tenten and Sakura and Ino on footage a lot, but mostly Ten-chan…"

He grinned wider. "You made videos about Tenten?? Ooh boy, if you have them with you in your dorm, can I come pick some up?"

"S-sure, of course, Naruto-kun."

"Great, thanks Hina-chan! I can't wait to see some of the videos you made!"

Hinata wasn't sure whether or not she should be happy about the fact that Naruto liked her videos, especially the ones on Tenten.

"Food court, straight ahead!" Tenten yelled from the front, pushing off her left foot and jumping over a step deftly. A large building with the neon name 'FOOD COURT' on the front came into view. It was huge, and made of glass. It was five stories high, and the eight of them could see all of the restaurants and people there.

"S-sugoi," Tenten murmured.

"Isn't it?" Sasuke said, grinning. "I'll treat you."

She shook her head and smiled. "No, no, I couldn't. Thanks for the offer though, it's very kind of you."

He blushed at that. He wasn't used to being called kind.

"Oi, Tenten, watch where you're going," Shikamaru warned. She smiled at him and coasted neatly to a stop in front of the glass revolving door. In order, the seven with bikes locked their transportation systems up with the locks they had received at the rental place. Then, they walked in, Tenten at the front on her rollerblades.

"Ah my blades work so well on this floor!" she remarked, sliding easily along the marble floor.

"My it smells nice in here," mentioned Hinata with a smile, video taping Tenten, who was skating in circles along the slick marble floor.

"They only serve the best quality foods here," Shikamaru said, with some pride in his voice.

"It's beautiful!" Sakura gazed around in awe.

It really _was_ a sight to see. There was so many people and bright, colorful lights that came from the different restaurants. These lights reflected off the marble and the glass so that it looked like there was a giant disco ball in the center. There was also a giant chandelier in hanging off the ceiling, glowing rainbow colors and sparkling off all the windows.

"Hey, we can't be in awe for much longer," joked Neji. "We only have an hour left for lunch, so let's hurry."

"H-hai!" Tenten said in a daze, eyes fixed on the swaying chandelier.

"You like that thing up there?" he asked, noticing her awe at the object.

She nodded slowly, taking his hand and letting him lead her away. "Tenten," he prompted. "When's your birthday?"

"Huh… Uh- what? My birthday? It's September 15, in a couple of weeks." She then realized she was holding the Hyuuga's hand and blushed, but he didn't seem to mind.

"The fifteenth…" he said, smirking lightly at her discomfort.

Sasuke was slightly pissed at seeing how close Neji and Tenten were getting. Seeing them together made him boil inside… and it was something he'd never felt before. He had had everything he always wanted, but for once, that thing or person he wanted was out of reach. It was new to him, and he decided he didn't like it.

"Sasuke-kun?" asked a curious Sakura, worried about his sullen silence. "Are you okay?"

"Yea," he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Perfect."

"I don't understand you very well, but you challenged my authority when you whistled at me and there's no way I'm gonna lay off you now, buster," she growled jokingly.

He smiled, insides cooling down. "Thanks Sakura," he told her.

"For what?" Twice in one day people told her 'thanks' for reasons unknown to her. "What did I do, ne, Sasuke-kun?"

"Nothing," he replied, smirking.

Ino watched Shikamaru in mild amusement as he walked with his head facing the ceiling, arms around it.

"How can you see where you're going if you walk like that?" she asked, breaking out in laughter as he avoided a pole without even bothering to look down. "You'll bump into something pretty soon."

Shikamaru cocked his head to the side to regard the blond beside him. Boy was she annoying.

"I won't bump into anything," he reassured her, circling around a trashcan.

"But won't your arms get sore because you hold them up there for so long?" she asked again. "My arms would be dead by now."

Shikamaru sighed deeply and turned his head again. "Mendokusai… when do you ever shut your mouth?"

"When the temperature of hell drops below 32 degress," she announced promptly, smiling as if she were used to being asked that.

He dropped his arms and laughed quietly for a few seconds before saying, "That was too witty for you to have thought of. Who'd you get it from?"

Ino looked at him in a deeply offended way. "You've insulted me deeply, Shikamaru," she teased him. "I can't believe you would even _think_ of saying something like that!"

He smirked and she added, "Yeah, I got it from Tenten. I thought it was hilarious, and I thought I'd start using it- especially as there is no way I will ever shut my mouth. Ever."

"I can see that…" he said with an even larger smirk.

"Shut up," she said back, swatting his pineapple head.

"Oww… mendokusai."

-----

Tenten coasted to a stop in front of a store with the sign "Onami- Japanese Cuisine."

"Can we eat here?" she asked eagerly. "I want udon, yummy udon!!"

"And I want ramen!" Naruto added. "I'm starving!!!"

"Sashimi doesn't sound bad…" Sakura said, checking the fake window display. Hinata and Ino bent down at the display, discussing different food options.

"I'm on a diet. I can't eat something fattening, so tonkatsu would be out. You need some flesh Hina-chan, so you can share with Ten-chan if you'd like. I can get… oh! I'll get the soba noodle set!!" Ino exclaimed.

"Sounds fine," Sasuke nodded. Shikamaru "hn" ed and Neji shrugged.

"I don't mind wherever we go," the Hyuuga prodigy said.

So Tenten and Naruto skipped/slid into the store, hearts in their eyes, as everyone else followed.

"Eight!" Tenten chirped to the waiter. She slid past him, stopped, then slid back.

"Oniichan!"

Takuto grinned down at his little sister. "Heya Tennie. Having fun?"

"You really work everywhere," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"I do."

"Good afternoon, Takuto-san," Hinata said.

"Hey Takuto," Ino and Sakura chimed in unison.

"Guys, this is my older brother, Takuto. He works _everywhere_," Tenten introduced. "Niichan, this is Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. They're both in my grade. And you know Neji."

The boys nodded to each other in turn as the girls wondered why almost every single guy form of "hi" included curt head nodding. They found it odd to see four different guys nodding coolly at each other. Sakura almost giggled.

"Please follow me," Takuto announced, being a good waiter and leading them to a table. "Good afternoon, my name is Takuto, and I'll be your waiter for this afternoon. Tian here will be your special servant and you-"

"Niichan!!"

"Just kidding. Anyway, just press this button to call me when you're ready to order. Oh yeah, would you like any drinks?"

They all looked at each other until Ino spoke up. "Diet Iced Tea."

"I'll have some Iced green tea, with citrus flavoring, niichan."

"Um… jasmine tea please." Hinata put in.

"I would like jasmine tea as well," Neji said. I guess it's true that all Hyuugas have similar tastes. Maybe from growing up on the same type of foods their whole lives?

"Orange sparkle soda!" Naruto yelled.

"Just water for me," Shikamaru yawned. "With a little lemon, if you can."

"Same for me as well," the Uchiha added.

"I guess I'll have regular iced tea, raspberry, if you have it." Sakura broke her chopsticks and picked up her menu.

"One Diet iced tea, one iced green tea with citrus, two hot jasmine teas, orange soda, and raspberry iced tea," listed Takuto, magically producing two cups of water with lemons on the rim out of nowhere. (It must be a family thing, the ability to bring stuff out or nowhere).

He placed the cups in front of Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"That sounds about right," Shikamaru confirmed lazily.

"Right. Call me for your orders, then," Tenten's brother said.

Tenten banged her fist on the table and shouted cutely, "I want the curry udon please!! KYU!" Everyone stared at her. Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto were all blushing. Shikamaru was smirking largely and Sakura and Ino were smiling. Hinata was practically sobbing.

"Huh, what's going on?" the confused girl asked, her fist still on the table. "Hinata, why do you look so miserable?"

"It's…" Hinata sniffed. "It's just that… you were so cute when you yelled that, and I didn't get to film it!!"

Tenten sweatdropped and faceplanted into the table.

"Well, I decided on the cold soba noodle set," Ino told everyone.

"And I've decided on mine as well," Hinata said.

The guys all glanced at the menus and nodded. Tenten pressed the little red button gleefully, jabbing it and prodding it and poking it over and over again. When Takuto arrived, he looked the slightest bit pissed. He whipped out his notebook and saw Tenten in her hyperactive mode, hanging over the button. He couldn't help but grin, and sighed, "You're orders?"

"Curry udon!!!" Tenten cried to her brother.

"MISO RAMEN!!!" Naruto shouted loudly, waving his hand.

"Soba noodle set for me, and a sashimi plate for Sakura," Ino said, scowling at the blond and whacking him on the head.

"Small sized tonkatsu, please," the snow white-eyed Hyuuga requested.

"Yakisoba plate," Sasuke said.

"Okonomiyaki, medium size, for both me and Shikamaru," Neji offered, as Shikamaru was too lazy to tell his order.

"Right," Takuto said, scribbling in his notebook. "I've got one curry udon, one miso ramen, one soba noodle set, one sashimi plate, one small tonkatsu, one yakisoba plate, and two okonomiyakis. Seafood or veggies on your okonomiyaki, guys?"

"Both for me… seafood for Shikamaru."

"Fine. Okay, I'll be back with the food soon. We have fast service."

"I'll count on it," Naruto said, stomach groaning in hunger. "I feel like I'm dying. I need my ramen."

Tenten giggled, and he grinned contentedly.

Sure enough, in a few minutes, the food was all ready, and Takuto wheeled it in on a cart.

"Curry udon," he said, setting it down in front of his little sister. She smiled up at him and he ruffled her hair with his free hand.

"Soba noodle set… and the sashimi plate. Let's see… here are the two okonomiyakis, and there's the yakisoba plate." He brought out a teapot and announced, "This is the jasmine tea, and here are the cups… there's your iced citrus green tea, Tian, and the diet iced tea and raspberry iced tea for you two… and the orange soda for you." After the drinks he started bringing out food again. He set a steaming Miso ramen in front of an impatient Naruto and a set of tonkatsu in front of Hinata.

"Have a good meal, and call me if you need anything."

"Arigato, oniichan," Tenten spoke up. "ITADAKIMASU!!"

And they dug into the food, which was delicious. The noodles melted in their mouths and the tonkatsu was both chewy and savory. The sashimi tasted and smelled the freshest they could get, and the cold soba broth was just the right amount of sweet and salty. The okonamiyaki had hardened slightly on the outside so it was crispy and was warm and fluffy on the inside.

"Oishi!" Sakura cried. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten, besides Ino's cooking!"

"Ino can _cook_??" Shikamaru asked in disbelief, stabbing the Japanese style pizza with his fork. "That's pretty hard to believe."

"She's an excellent cook," Hinata protested. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

The boys all looked Ino up and down before explaining, "She's not the type."

"Then why don't you come over for dinner sometime? We'll come up with something that'll melt your tongues off. You'll even eat the scraps we throw in the dirt. It'll be _that_ good," Tenten assured them, sipping at the broth of her noodles.

"That would be nice," Sasuke agreed. "That is, if you're up to the _challenge._"

At the word, Tenten visibly tensed and gave him a killer smile. "You don't know what you're inflicting on yourself," she said slowly.

He smirked. "Believe me, I am fully prepared for anything that you give me."

That sounded just a teensy bit like innocent seduction, and there was a slightly awkward silence amidst the slurping and chewing. Finally, Sakura said, "How about this Saturday?"

The boys looked at one another and then Naruto piped, "That's fine."

They ate some more in a steamy silence that wasn't awkward, just peaceful. Tenten caught Naruto staring at her chew and smiled at him, dimples caving in slightly. He blushed and looked down, making the Hyuuga seated beside him a little depressed. Neji checked the time and saw that they still had a full thirty minutes left. He relaxed and sipped at his tea.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" An annoying voice pierced the silence, followed by three identical, high pitched cackles. Misuka smirked down at them all, fingers playing with the edge of her disgusting skirt. Her three friends stood behind her.

-----

**WLH: Haha a lot of the wording here is awkward (again!!) but i hope you liked it because it's somewhat interesting (haha.) I know, you can't wait for Misuka and her buddies to get OWNED so I'll get going on the next chapter.**

**If any of you have read the first chapter and all of the details (if you didn't skip anything, I give you cookies, KUDOS, and more cookies. Wuv.) then you probably know I have a lot of fun crap coming for this story. So keep your eyes and ears open!**

**thanks for the support. Just for the record, I LOVE NejixtenxSasu, so expect more of that. Naruto'll get over Tenten soon, for those who are concerned with Tenten getting too much of the love (though the anime doesn't give her enough, so I say this is justice) don't worry. Plus Shika never really "loves" Tenten. But really. Tenten needs the love. She really does. Just trying to spread the Tenten.**

**NEways. Next chapter? soon :) **


	3. Contentment

**WLH: :) Chapter three! It's substantially shorter than the first two, but it's all story, so i hope you don't mind. Again, more Tenten being impossibly amazing and nice, and more NaruHina. I love Hinata :DD and as you can see I wasn't lying when I said Naruto'll move on soon.**

**LOL at Misuka and Kaya suffering in track. Too, too, funny. And poor Hina-chan with her inferiority complex, she gets all surprised when someone flirts with her.**

**Sempai = a suffix added when addressing upperclassmen.**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

"Hey you little wretch," Misuka said, pointing a sharp, manicured nail at Tenten. "Why don't you take your stupid ugly friends out of here and go back to where you belong?"

"Who in the fuc-" Ino began, before Hinata stopped her. Sakura looked equally furious at the rude comment, and her inner self was just about to kick in. She subconsciously shook her bubble gum hair, making Kaya sneer.

Tenten looked around at all of her confused friends and the apprehensive looking guys.

"What do you want, Misuka?" she asked quietly, breaking the dull silence echoing through the restaurant. "Did you need help with homework or something?"

Misuka looked a little taken aback at this, coloring darkly. "Look, you bitch, I don't need help from you and it's not like I ever will, you know," she sputtered.

Hinata turned to Ino and Sakura, who were exchanging confused and mildly angry glances from their seats at the table.

"Who are these girls?" Ino hissed at Hinata across the table, watching the staring contest between the furious Misuka and the calm and composed Tenten. "You act like you know them."

"They don't seem to like us all that much," Sakura commented dryly. "Talk about a first impression."

"Look, gals, if you want to talk to us, just spit it out already, will ya?" Ino asked, making Hinata squeak. Her blonde hair swept across the small of her back as she tossed her hair coolly and looked down impatiently at her food. "Our food's growing cold."

"Don't you talk to us as if we're inferior like that," a girl with red hair and a pleated skirt spoke acidly, the words curling out of her mouth one by one like a foul smelling smoke. "Why I ought to jus-"

"Cool it, Nosoka," snapped Kaya, putting a hand on the red head's shoulder. She turned to the four girls, but seemed to glare straight at Sakura and then at Tenten, her furious stare switching in between the two as she talked. "Didn't Misuka just say? How about you guys go work on homework or talk about computers or whatever other stuff you geeks do. What was it again? Amine? Anima?"

"Anime," Sakura spat back, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. 'IT' was trying to claw its way out of its prison.

"If you want us to leave," Hinata said suddenly, with a surprising amount of cheek lacing her voice, "I'm sorry to say that the answer is no. We're simply not into taking orders from horses wearing barely legal clothing." **(WLH: WAIII!! GO HINATA!)**

"Why you little-!" Nosoka screamed shrilly, clawing maniacally at Hinata's face. The Hyuuga fell out of her seat and onto the ground with a little shocked look on her face, blood leaking from a scratch on her left cheek. The red liquid dripped out of the wound, contrasting darkly with her snow white skin. Tenten watched slowly as the cheek of her best friend started to bruise and swell up.

**(WLH: Oh noes! Hina-chan!! D: Now you pay, horse!)**

"What the heck was that for?" she asked in a creepily quiet voice. **(WLH: She stalked slowly towards Nosoka and suddenly suckerpunched her in the jaw, sending her flying to Mars! When Nosoka came back, Tenten went Chuck Norris and totally PWNED her back to Mars and then was waiting for her return with a huge trashcan! Nosoka landed face down in the trash. Lol much? Too bad Tenten's nicer than that.)**

"I…" even Nosoka seemed a little taken aback at her previous action, watching the trail of blood worming its way down Hina's cheek and wishing faintly that someone would wipe it up.

"Great, you idiot," Kaya and Misuka growled simultaneously.

"What are you going to do if any school authority finds out!" Misuka continued. "Didn't we tell you not to lose it like that?!"

"We'll just have to make sure that they don't find out then," the fourth girl who had been quiet for a while said. She picked at something under her nails calmly, flashing Shikamaru a coy smirk.

"Easier said than done, Chisomi," Sasuke put in coldly, glancing curiously at Tenten, who merely smiled and ran a gentle hand over Hinata's cheek from her crouched position on the ground.

"Are you okay, Hina-chan?" Sakura asked, concern harshly outlining her features.

"We have to let someone know about this," Ino whispered harshly at Tenten. Tenten gave Hinata one last pat on the cheek and looked up at her blond friend.

"No, we don't," she replied with a little sigh.

"Coward," Nosoka said sourly, having overheard their conversation. She twisted a lock of red hair around her finger and let out a long, mocking sigh, leaning boredly on the side of the table. "Too scared to rat us out, baby?"

"Why don't you just stop that and leave us alone?!" Naruto said loudly, springing up from his seat in exasperation. "I have no idea who you people are, but whoever you are, you better leave Tenten and Hina-chan alone!"

At this, the girls looked mildly insulted.

"I can't believe you don't know who we are," Chisomi remarked, tossing her obviously bleached hair behind her shoulders. "Misuka, I thought you said these guys knew us."

"Explain to me why we would know someone like you," Neji commented. His fingers drummed casually on the table top. "Except for the annoying one who was too loud in first period," he acknowledged, flashing Tenten a small smile.

"Neji-kuun~!" Misuka squealed proudly, sauntering over to the vexed looking Hyuuga. She pointedly ignored the fact that he had called her annoying and 'too loud' and proceeded to try to sit down next to him on the cushiony velvet seat, shoving Tenten and Hinata away with her shoe.

"Excuse me," Tenten said quietly again, slipping deftly out from under the table. Hinata followed her meekly and Sakura couldn't help but smile, knowing where this was going.

"What is it, bitch?" Kaya said impatiently. "Could you just leave already? We have business to do."

"With these guys?" Ino fired back, equally as annoyed. "I think not, you over arrogant little…" she died down, knowing that wasn't the right thing to do. At this, Chisomi let out a rather taunting laugh.

"Coward…" she and Nosoka teased again, tugging on the blond's ponytail rather hard and jerking out several strands. Ino gritted her teeth and looked at Tenten, who was staring out the window absently, fingering the gold locket she always wore around her neck. A bird sat on the windowsill, pecking at the glass and peering into the restaurant at her.

"Birds don't like to be trapped, but with reason enough, they'll try to fight back into confinement." She said softly, surprising everyone by walking over to the window and opening it. The bird flew in and rested on her outstretched arm, making her smile. There were a few high pitched warbles from behind one of the tables in the restaurant and Tenten reached back to reveal a nest full of little baby birds. She set the bird down by the nest and turned back to the others.

"What is it, Misuka," she asked with a cock of her head, "that makes you come back towards me, where you very well know will lose again?"

Misuka visibly tensed and her grip on Neji's arm tightened. Her mouth was a grim slash of glossy bright pink.

"…is there something you want to tell me?" Tenten urged her again, cupping her locket in her hands.

There was a ringing silence in the restaurant because there were almost no customers; the bell would ring soon. Sasuke poked at a strand of yakisoba absently, making Kaya coo over his 'cuteness' for a moment before the silence overcame them again.

"Pff," Chisomi laughed doubtfully. "Give me a break you smart ass. Stop giving us that stupid peacemaker attitude and just leave."

"Seriously, you wench," Nosoka said, a little more reassured. "As if Misuka would want to tell you something."

"Lay off, girls," said Misuka sharply. "We're going, now."

"Bu-"

"No buts. Now," the black haired leader ordered, making her hand brush Neji's arm as she walked past him. Kaya left Sasuke with a pout and looked questionably up at her friend, who merely silenced her with a venomous glare.

"Bitch," Misuka muttered to Tenten as she stalked out of the restaurant with her friends.

* * *

"I still don't get it," Sakura said again to her roommate, throwing and catching a tennis ball repeatedly, head hanging off the side of her bed.

"I'll explain it to you later," Tenten reassured her with a laugh. She nicked the tennis ball from the air and threw it back in her can, which she tossed into her bag. She flew around the room, pulling up her hair. "What am I forgetting?"

"Racket?" Sakura suggested, sitting up.

"Nope." The silver and blue racket leaned against the foot of Tenten's bed.

"Umm… your track uniform?"

"Nah, I got that," the other replied, checking her bag to make sure.

"I don't think you're missing anything, Tennie," Sakura giggled. She flopped back down onto her bed and let out a contented sigh. "I sure am glad I have free Mondays."

"I still feel like I'm forgetting something…" Tenten groaned lightly, tramping around the room. "Deodorant…"

"You don't need it," Sakura put in.

"Tennis balls, track uniform, sunscreen, extra hairties, water bottle, tennis racket…" she continued with a little smile on her face. "I like it, it's peach shimmer scent."

"Ten, girl, let's get going!" Ino yelled from downstairs in the kitchen. "My stage improv. club starts soon!!"

"Hai, hai!" she called back, frantically digging through her drawers and closet.

"Hey, Ten-chan?" Sakura asked casually, spotting something extremely important lying on her friend's pillow.

"Yea?"

"I think I know what you're missing." She giggled slightly.

"Really, what is it?" her friend asked, digging through her closet. The pink haired girl hooked a pinky through the necklace that held several dangling, shiny objects.

"Your keys." She replied pointedly.

"Oh crap!" Tenten said, putting a fist against her palm. "Quick, help me look for them!"

Sakura sighed and got up, offering the keys to the dorm and her house from her pinky. "Goodness, now get out of here, girl."

Tenten didn't have to be told twice. She shot out of there like a torpedo and Sakura leaned back on her bed, smiling.

"I… still don't get it," she mused to herself after a while.

* * *

Neji was strolling by the tennis courts when a lime green ball in terrible condition rolled towards him. He picked up the ripped ball and gently brushed the dirt off of it. He was pounding it into his right fist over and over again when a bright voice called, "Um, excuse me, but that's my ball!"

The Hyuuga turned towards the familiar voice and was surprised to see Tenten hanging over the fence, racket dangling from her hand. She noticed him and waved brightly. "Heyy Neji!! Over here!!!"

Instead of throwing the ball, he opted to walk over to where she was hanging and hand it to her. She dropped down into the court with a light tap, and through the screened fence, her smile shone out at him.

"Thanks!"

He began to say something, but she turned back to the game at hand with a girl who looked at least two years her senior.

"I'm serving now, Megumi-san! Kyu!" Tenten yelled to her opponent before flinging the ball up in the air and powerfully bringing her racket down to pound the ball across the net. With a little stumbling, the older girl returned the excellent serve and the game was on.

Neji's eyes followed the brown haired girl as she sprinted and dodged around the court, skillfully extending her racket and using her arms to her fullest potential. It wasn't the skill though, that struck him. It was her face – the eyes that danced, the enchanting smile that came upon her lips every time she slammed the ball back to her opponent. Peals of her laughter rang resiliently into his ears. He stood there and watched with awe as she not only played the game, but enjoyed it fully as well. He was still standing there when she came out of the courts with a few of her tennis friends, wiping the back of her neck with a towel, brown ponytail replaced by the customary buns.

"Oh Neji!" she said, spotting him. She waved to her friends and ran up to him, panting slightly. "I thought you left!"

"I…" he murmured, still a little dumbstruck. "Um, I mean…" he shook his head slightly. "I thought I might wait for you so we could go to track."

A suitable excuse. She nodded and smiled. "Thanks for waiting! Let's go, then."

They began the walk around campus to the track, Tenten humming and skipping on the way. She swung her racket casually around in circles.

"You're really good at tennis," he said, breaking the silence and making her glance at him. "You…you move so well, and whenever you hit the ball, you seem to…" he trailed off, staring down at her.

"Oh." She seemed a little embarrassed. Her cheeks colored and she waved a hand. "I didn't know you were watching me that closely." Having caught him, she smiled radiantly and sprinted off, laughing, while he stood there and registered what had just happened.

And then, half-blushing half-smirking reluctantly, he chased after her towards the dirt track that encircled a green field in the distance.

Tenten sped directly into the grass field and allowed a surprised Sasuke to sling an arm out to prevent her from crashing into something with her accelerated speed. Neji shot past them, dug a heel in the dirt to stop himself, and turned, jogging back.

All of a sudden, there was an annoying shriek of glee as a girly voice squealed, "There Kaya, I told you! I told you Neji-sama and Sasuke-kun would be here!!!" **(WLH: Oh please God no… they're back. D:)**

"Sasuke-kuun!" Kaya brightened almost immediately at the sight of her object of affection and began to run over to him. She stopped cold when she noticed the brown haired girl beside him.

"What's wrong?" Misuka asked. She too, saw Tenten, and stopped. Her overjoyed smile turned into a scowl of menace. "It's that bitch…" she growled. "I bet she just joined so she could get attention."

"Oh look, it's Kaya and Misuka," Tenten commented cheerfully. "I didn't know they signed up for track." She waved hesitantly at them. The two shot her venomous glares and turned away, noses in the air. She shrugged, and then bent over to tie her shoelace.

"Let me get that for you," Neji said gallantly, bending down and carefully tying the laces. "Tenten," he muttered under his breath. "You know what happened in History and at lunch. Maybe you ought to…"

He looked up at her from his squatting position, and his eyes told her something that he didn't want to say.

She shook her head. "I won't quit."

"What? Quit what?" Sasuke asked, feeling oddly out of the loop. He was definitely not used to this.

"Quit track…" she replied, waving her hand dismissively again. "Personally, I don't care much about what Misuka and Kaya might do to me. I've been through worse, and it's not going to make me give up something I love doing just to protect myself." She smiled. "People like that… don't get anywhere in life. As soon as something scary pops up, they back out. You know what I mean?" Her sneakers crunched on the dirt track. "Look at this! Newly lined!" She pointed gleefully at brand new lines of white separating the lanes.

"That's a pretty brave thing to say," Sasuke said, smirking.

"No choice," Neji added. "We have to protect you."

Tenten looked up, amused. "Protect me?" She turned around and shrugged. "Do as you wish." Her eyes focused as she waited for the track coach to finish introducing herself and start the very first mile that would assess the levels of skill of the members of track. Three… two… "Just…" she breathed. "Just don't get left behind." One!! She sped off, easily bypassing everyone ahead of her. Sasuke and Neji chased the dust springing up from her footsteps.

J_ust like that time when you were running through the woods… running from the people who took his life…_ she thought. _Remember? The footing was difficult… it's so much easier here. So you should be able to go faster… and faster, and FASTER._

"1:05!!!" The coach yelled as Tenten breezed past her. "Way to go!"

Sasuke squinted. Tenten was more than half a lap ahead of the two… wait… where did Neji go? He sighed when he realized that his friend had sped ahead of him to catch up to Tenten, and gritted his teeth before sprinting to his limit. His head pounded, his footsteps beat the dust… and before he knew it, he was directly behind her bobbing ponytail.

"How did you get so fast?" he breathed lightly, falling into step beside his two friends.

"I did a lot of running when I was younger," Tenten replied truthfully, though a little evasively. They ran their third lap in silence. When they started their fourth lap, Tenten broke into a dangerously fast sprint, and so did Neji and Sasuke.

_Come on, you can make it!!_ She screamed in her head, muscles aching, lungs burning.

"4:31, 4:32, 4:33!!" The coach yelled as she crossed the line. "First one in, great job!" **(WLH: Lol isn't that like record time, or something? xD)**

Sasuke and Neji, neck and neck, sped across the finish line and joined the weapon mistress on the grass, panting.

"Well, that was fun!" Tenten chirped, fingers spread wide against the cool breeze, her face lifted up to the sky.

"Cheater!" came an angry voice. Misuka, indignant, tramped over, red in the face, make-up bleeding. Kaya followed, her eyes a mess of bright blue.

"How did you do that! You obviously only ran two laps!" Kaya sneered, crossing her arms. Tenten struggled not to laugh at the faces of the two, and merely shrugged.

"I didn't cheat. I've been running since I was really young, that's all." And that was all there was to it. The girls stomped angrily away and Tenten smiled the slightest bit. "They joined track because you guys did." She remarked in realization.

Neji groaned. "You think?" he said patronizingly.

She laughed. "Sorry, sorry…"

"I'm glad you're in track," Sasuke noted blearily. He tipped his head back. "Without you, those two would be too much to handle." The head came back as he eyed her. "What's you're secret? How do you keep them in check like that?"

"Because she treats them like they're her friends, and they don't know quite how to react to that," Neji answered. "They've probably never met anyone as kind as Tenten before."

She blushed and looked down at her hands. "It's nothing really… I just kind of wish we got along, but then I remember what they did to Hinata…"

There was a moment of silence. Sasuke broke it, asking softly, "Is Hinata okay?"

Tenten laughed. "Actually, she's great. It shouldn't scar because we found out that it's fairly shallow. She's so happy about having shot down those four it's unbelievable."

At this, Neji had to smile a bit. "That was brave of her," he commented.

"Yeah, I honestly didn't know Hinata was the type to say something like that," she replied. "She's becoming more like Ino every second!"

"Though I'm not sure if that's an altogether good thing or not." Sasuke smirked making Tenten laugh harder.

When she finally got through her hiccup like giggles, she got up and started to stretch, her heart still thumping from her previous sprint. "You know," she mentioned. "I think there really was something Misuka wanted to tell me." She pulled her right arm across her chest with a contemplative look on her face. "I wonder what it was…"

"Don't let it worry you too much." Sasuke shook his head. "She's been terrorizing you since you first met her and you're all concerned about her. A little sickening."

Neji scowled at this, and Tenten started, smiling sheepishly. "I-I'm sorry Sasuke. I didn't realize it bothered you that much."

Sasuke wondered why she was apologizing before he noticed her slightly abashed and forlorn look and felt a wave of guilt wash over him without any resistance. He quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. "That's not what I meant." He reddened. "I was just saying… it's sickening how Misuka does her best to hinder you in everything, despite the concern you obviously show for her wellbeing."

Neji "hn-ed" and resumed his stretching, inching closer to Tenten, who immediately smiled widely in relief.

"Ohh, that's good," she said breezily. "I thought, if I sickened Sasuke-kun that much, I wouldn't know what I'd do!" She paused. "But please don't say Misuka is sickening. I think there's something about her that we just don't know yet. So… I don't want to be the judge of her actions."

The silent Hyuuga stood and clunked her soundly on the head, making her squeak in surprise.

"Way too nice, as always," he commented. But he was smiling kindly down at her and something in that smile of his made her look away, flustered.

"Y-yeah right," she protested feebly.

"I think you're right," Sasuke cut in. The coach was beginning warm-up laps, and they stood, heading towards the starting line. "I guess it isn't fair to say that about Misuka… just yet. But you know?" The three watched Misuka and Kaya moan at the fact that there was more running to do, their makeup smeared even worse, and their faces still a bulging red.

Sasuke grinned as the coach blew the whistle to begin. "I still quite relish watching them suffer."

Tenten smiled, and chastised him only very lightly, and Neji permitted himself a golden smirk.

* * *

"This section here is amazing, as always, but the angle on this shot could be improved," a senior in the video making club commented, leaning over Hinata's work. He nodded, clicking his mouse through several scenes. "Who is this girl who keeps popping up in your work?" He smiled. "She's awfully cute."

"KYU!" The Tenten on screen exclaimed.

Hinata blushed at the praise. "She's my good friend, sempai. And I'm glad you think so highly of my videos."

"Of course, Hinata-chan." He straightened up and winked at her. "Your friend's cute, but she's not as cute as you, to me at least." And he walked away to help some of the others out with their videos.

_W-what?_ She blushed, confused, before realizing that he had been flirting with her. _Yoh sempai? N-no way._ She turned and glanced at him as he helped a sophomore sitting a few rows behind her. He flicked his head up and smiled when he noticed her staring shyly at him. This made her redden and turn quickly back to her work.

She worked furiously, cutting and pasting clips of video without even thinking. She couldn't remember the last time a guy had ever flirted with her or had shown any romantic interest in her at all. Her eyes dimmed. It was because she was a Hyuuga, and this scared many potential admirers.

"Good luck!" Tenten on screen was midjump, her brown locks shining in the on-camera sun. Hinata smiled absentmindedly.

It had always been Sakura and Ino and Tenten getting the advances for so long. She bit her lip and had to grab her own wrist to prevent herself from accidentally deleting the wrong clip of footage.

_Oh, who am I kidding? He was probably just kidding, anyways. Sheesh, that Yoh sempai. Always a trickster._ A reassured smile dawned on her shy features, and she finished up the video on a brighter note. _I guess I'm the most comfortable just being a feared and respected Hyuuga, always backed up in the corner. It's the safest._

A small sigh left her lips. _I'm a coward after all, no getting past that._

"Why are you sighing so sadly like that?" A rough voice asked. "It makes me sad to see my Hina-chan so sad like that."

Hinata jumped at the familiar voice and spun around. "N-naruto-kun!!"

"Yo!" the blonde replied jubilantly.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned, forcing her voice to still, though she could do nothing about her rapidly reddening face.

He grinned. "I had nothing to do, and then I remembered that you promised to let me see a few of your videos! So I came to visit." He stared at her impishly. "I hope this isn't a bad time."

She immediately shook her head and smiled. "Oh no, not at all. Anytime for you, Naruto-kun."

"Hehe," he laughed. "So nice to me, as always, eh? You haven't changed a bit, Hina-chan."

Her shy smile strengthened and she leaned her face on her hand, relaxing. "And neither have you. Still so full of energy and strength."

He gave her a thumbs-up. "Hey, of course! That's me!" And he grinned widely, carefree.

This made her laugh, her hand covering her mouth slightly in a feminine gesture.

Yoh noticed the new arrival and his closeness to Hinata, and he soon strode over, a small frown on his face. Hinata looked up in surprise as his tall shadow crossed over them.

"And who would this be, Hinata-chan?"

"Ah, Yoh sempai!" she exclaimed, bowing her head quickly. "Forgive me for not saying sooner. This is my good friend Uzumaki Naruto. I promised to show him some of my videos, and so…"

"Nice to meet you," Naruto said briefly, strangely omitting the usually rambunctious greeting.

Yoh nodded to the underclassman and turned back to Hinata, who was fidgeting with discomfort. "Come, Hina-chan, you don't have to bow like that to me." He put a hand firmly on her shoulder and leaned closer to her. "I thought we were closer than that. It hurts me when you act so distant."

"E-ehh?" Hinata managed to mumble, staring apprehensively at Naruto's darkening expression.

"Here, I'll show you how to make this clip with your pretty friend even more amazing." He leaned over her, almost embracing her as he moved the mouse on the screen, clicking a few times. "Amazing, huh, Hina-chan?"

She nodded quickly, her discomfort increasing. "Y-yes. M-might I try to apply it to other shots?" She hoped this would get him away and that she could continue her conversation with Naruto. Come to think of it, Naruto had been remarkably silent…

"Aww, shy, are we, Hina-chan?" Yoh commented with a small smile. "Don't be, I-"

"Stop. It's too weird."

Hinata and Yoh both turned to Naruto, who had finally spoken softly, in surprise.

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked hesitantly in concern.

He looked up, his expression hard, straight at Yoh. "Don't call MY Hinata Hina-chan. Only I do that."

_Wha-_ Hinata thought once more, flustered.

Yoh stared at Naruto with an unfathomable expression for a bit before finally understanding and breaking out into a grin. "Alright, I get you loud and clear man. So I'll clear out, for now." He saluted the two, a little reluctance and playfulness lining his face. "But just for now." And with another smile at Hinata, he stepped away.

"N-naruto-kun," she reached out falteringly towards the usually outspoken boy. Suddenly, his hand reached up and caught hers, making her start and blush.

"Ano ne, Hina-chan," he murmured. The grip on her hand tightened. "You're MY Hina-chan, okay?" He looked up with a large, sunny grin, as was custom. "It's just too weird if anyone else calls you that, other than Ten-chan and the others!"

Hinata finally got over her surprise and smiled shyly, tightening her grip as well. "Okay, Naruto-kun."

And though he was all smiles at the moment, she couldn't help but ponder over his brooding expression from before. Either way, something about that fiercely determined expression of his brought a small warmth into her heart. And for the first time in her life, she was glad simply to be Hyuuga Hinata. And that alone was enough.

* * *

**WLH: Well, as you can see, I've began to take this story on random plot twists. Everything's still in the experimental stage, but, as you can tell, something's starting to happen. Catch the hints about Tenten's past? Hopefully, you'll continue to detect slight nuances as this story progresses.**

**For now though, revel in the utter cliche/suckiness. And the Tenten love. Yeap. Writing this story is wuv :)**

**Planned events... sleepover, maybe. Truth or dare? And field trips. CLICHES.**

**Update? review:soon. no review:not so soon. LOL jk, I'll update, no matter what ;P**


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